Hide tanning apparatus



March 24,1942. -QKANNEL. 2,277,404

HIDE TANNING APPARATUS Filed July 16, 1940 v2 Sheets-Sheet' 1 March 24, 1942 c, NEL

A HIDE TANNING APPARATUS Filed July 16, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 24, 1942 HIDE TANNING APPARATUS Charles 'Kannel, ,East Stroudsburg, Pa. Application July 16, 1940,'Se rial No. 345,821

4 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to improvements in hide tanning apparatus of the type described in my prior Patent No. 2,133,989, granted October 25, 1938, and in particular to a novel form of hide supporting frame as well as a novel arrangement of such frames and supporting means therefor.

be attached therebetween so as to form a V-- shaped pocket into which the tanning liquor was forced by movement of the frames to and fro to cause quick penetration of the liquor under pressure.

While such system was found to produce the desired results within short periods of :time therefore unknown, I found it to possess numerous disadvantages among which may be noted an undesirable minimum capacity of the tanning vat and therefore low production, as well as diificulty in maintaining the hides in position upon the frames due to the tendency for the weight thereof to cause the hides to tear loose under the 5 stresses produced by the pressure incident to the pocketing or trapping of the liquor in the move ment of the hides to andfro in the vat.

The present method or system has been devised, after considerable experimentation, to overcome these problems and in carrying out the invention, I provide a new type of hide supporting frame capable of sustaininga single 'hi'de 'and holding the sides of the hide in such spaced relation as to provide the necessary trapping of the tanning liquor, such frames and hides being-capable of disposition in substantially a horizontal or prone position, one superposed upon another; in a rack, thereby increasing the capacity of the vat many times more than was possible in the previous type of apparatus hereinbefore referred to. 7

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter set forth and the novel features thereof defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation View of a hide tanning apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention, portions thereof being broken away and (Cl. MEL-10) parts shown in section to more clearly disclose the details of construction;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken about on the plane of line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the hide supporting frames showing the hide attached in position thereon;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional View taken approximately on the plane indicated by the line l-'4 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary detailed view showing in end elevation the construction depicted in Figure 4.

Like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The numeral l refers'to a vat or tank for holding the tanning liquor, said tankbeing in this case elongated and provided with a rail 2 on each of its longer side walls to provide a track support for the frame rack or racks which are mounted for reciprocation upon the track rails in a manner more specifically described hereinafter. Each of these racks 3 is composed of an open frame work or crib. The rack is provided with a bottom having rows of perforations 5 therethrough to permit the liquor in which the racks areimrnersed to flow upwardly and downwardly through the bottom and at the back, stop strips 6 are attached so as to reduce the area of the opening at the back, said strips forming abutments against which the hide carrying frames engage when disposed in'the rack through the front opening 'I. At the top and at each end of the rack is attached an extension barB carrying spaced wheel supports 9 which are disposed upon-the respective track'rails 2 so as to travel therealong in the operation of reciprocation of the rack in the vat liquor.

To cause such reciprocation of these open racks, they may be connected to the usual rocking or actuating means of the conventional tanning:apparatus'heretofore employed, but I prefer to provide at one end of the vat l a drive shaft l0 having attached at each end a crank H to which cranks are connected link members l2, at i one end, said links being pivotally connected to the respective ends of a rack as at It. The crank shaft ill may be driven in any desired manner, such as by means of a motor M arranged to drive the belt l5 passingaround the pulley i6 on said shaft.

While it is possible to use a single rack in a vet, such as hereinbefcre described, it is preferable to arrange two such racks in each vat, as

illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the second rack being connected to the longer crank arms I! by the long links 18, this arrangement causing the racks to be reciprocated in opposite directions simultaneously.

The linked arrangement enables each of these racks to be displaced vertically from the vat so as to render the racks wholly accessible for loading and unloading of the hide carrying frames. For this purpose hoisting hooks l9 are mounted on the ends of the racks and lifting means connected to said hooks will swing the rack out of the vat sufficiently far to permit cross bars to be disposed upon the tops of the rails so as to hold the rack in this elevated position as shown in dotted lines of Figure 1 of the drawmgs.

It will be noted that the construction above referred to is a desirable simplification of the apparatus shown in my prior patent in which the racks were mounted upon carrier frames and had to be displaced from said frames when the hides were loaded therein.

Passing now to the primary feature of the present invention and referring to Figure 3 of the drawings, a hide supporting frame comprises a rectangular construction 20 composed of the end pieces 20' and the cross slats 20". It will be noted that at one end of said frame spacing blocks 2| are secured, and on these spacing blocks a second cross slat 2| is attached. This spacing of the parts to provide an opening may be produced in other ways, and therefore I do not wish to be restricted to the method disclosed. It will also be noted that the end pieces 29' extend beyond the end cross slats for a short distance, these extensions 22 being provided so as to enable the hide flaps 23 formed by the leg portions of the hides to be attached in the manner shown clearly in Figure 3 of the drawings. The hide, generally designated 24, is stretched over the frame with the side portions attached along the two spaced end slats 20" and 2!, thereby providing a V pocket with the entrance thereto between the spaced end slats. When, under such conditions, the hide is moved in one direction in the liquor, said liquor is forced into the hide pocket thus provided and this trapping of the liquor creates a substantial pressure so as to tend to force the liquor to penetrate the hide in a minimum amount of time, all as described with reference to the corresponding arrangement shown in my prior patent. In the present instance, however, the frames supporting the hides are inserted in the racks 3 through the front opening 1 thereof and they lie in a substantially prone or horizontal position as clearly shown in the fragmentary view of Figure 4. In stacking these frames one upon the other, the second frame is reversed with respect to the first frame and so on throughout the superposed arrangement. This provides for the opening of the hide pocket in one direction for one of the frames and in the other direction for the next superposed frame. This arrangement facilitates the treatment of the respective hides in that the pressure is exerted in both directions of movement of the racks. Not only is this advantage present in the arrangement referred to, but it will be observed that such stacking enables a greater number of the frames with their hides attached to be loaded into each of the racks. In actual practice sometimes as high as fifty hides can be mounted in each rack and each hide will have the same uniform effective treatment.

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To prevent displacement of the hide supporting frames from the racks I provide a pair of vertical bars 25 which are inserted in suitable eyes 26 at the front opening 1 of each rack. Obviously any other suitable means may be used for this purpose.

When the hides have been subjected to the pressure treatment in the vat by reciprocation of the racks, for a time sufiicient to completely strike the hide, each rack may be quickly unloaded by elevating it in the manner hereinbefore described above the liquor, and the bars 25 are removed so as to free the hide carrying frames to permit them to be withdrawn through the front opening.

I am thus able to increase the capacity of the hide tanning apparatus and to insure the security of the hides upon their frames to a much greater degree than in the arrangement of my vertical frames in my prior patent.

While the specific details of the construction have been herein shown and described, the invention is not confined thereto as alterations may be made without departing from the spirit thereof as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Hide tanning apparatus, comprising a vat, a rack movably mounted therein, one side of said rack being normally open to receive hidecarrying frames in superposed prone position therein, said rack having means to support the hide-carrying frames in said prone position, supporting wheels connected to th rack for suspending the latter in the vat, rails for said Wheels, means for shifting the rack to and fro in the vat, and means displaceably mounted on the rack in obstructing relation to the open side of the rack for preventing displacement of the frames from the rack during movement of the latter.

2. Hide tanning apparatus, comprising a vat, a rack movably mounted therein, means for shifting the rack to and fro in the vat, including a crank shaft and means connecting said shaft to the rack, hide holding frames constructed to be stacked vertically one on the other in said rack and to each receive a hide folded about the same with the longitudinal edges of the hide terminating at the same end of the frame, each of said frames having its hide supporting sides spaced apart to positively hold the longitudinal edges of a hide in spaced relation when the hide is folded about the frame to form a pocket Within the folds of the hide to receive and pocket the tanning liquor in one direction of movement of the rack when the hide holding frames are mounted within the rack, each frame with its hide constituting a unit separate from each other frame and hide and being mounted in its prone position in the rack, and said rack having means for swinging the same about the connecting means between the shaft and rack into an elevated position to render said rack accessible for introducing or removing the frames therein without displacement of the connecting means from the shaft or rack.

3. Hide tanning apparatus of the class described, comprising a vat, a rack disposed therein, means for moving the rack to and fro in the vat, hide holding frames each disposed in substantially horizontal position in the rack and about each of which a hide is adapted to be folded with its side parts lying one above the other at opposite sides of the frame and with the free edges of said side parts of the hide disposed at the same end of the frame, and each hide holding frame including spacing means at one end thereof to which the side parts of the hide are adapted to be attached so as to hold the hide sides open to form a pocket for trapping tanning liquor therein.

4. Hide tanning apparatus of the class described, comprising a vat, a rack disposed therein, means for moving the rack to and fro in the vat, and a plurality of hide holding frames disposed substantially in horizontal position and superposed on one another in said rack, said hide holding frames each supporting a hide independently of the other hides, with the hides on the respective frames forming pockets alternately facing in opposite directions in the line of movement of the rack, from top to bottom of the vat.

CHARLES KANNEL. 

